Nick Hoad

Back In Black, got off to a fairly strong start with Hells Bells, a song which has what I can only describe as an endearingly adolescent interpretation of Satanism as its central subject matter. The production values are good throughout, the sound of a rock band can be very satisfying when done right and this album does it right.

That was more or less the end of the good times. To say that Back In Black has the depth of a puddle would be inaccurate; I’ve stepped in some surprisingly deep puddles. In fact, it has the depth of a minor spillage on the table. Tracks 2-5 are all filled with the most painfully unsubtle double entendres I’ve ever heard, to the point where I began to wonder why they even bothered. The worst of them were barely even double entendres at all, just weirdly vulgar. The barrage of innuendos meant that the title track, free from such things, came as a great relief. It also left me dreading the content of Have A Drink On Me, but it seems as though AC/DC either didn’t see or chose to ignore the potential for lewdness in that title and wrote a song about literally drinking to excess instead. I don’t know if I prefer it this way.

By this point the falsetto screeches of Brian Johnson, the unwavering dynamic level, and the five total chords the album had to offer were beginning to grate most terribly upon mine ears, so the stripped back introduction to the final track, Rock And Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution, was a godsend. All 46 seconds of it, before the whole band came crashing back in again, with a defiant defence of their own music in the face of detractors like me. In fairness to them, the music itself is genuinely quite good in places; the guitar solos are well executed, the instruments have a rich and punchy sound and Brian Johnson’s, let’s call it “distinctive”, voice fits in nicely, despite my tastes diverging from it. But that can’t save Back In Black from the repetitiveness and atrocious lyrics which plague it almost from start to finish.

There is a note at the bottom of the poster which reads “every one of these albums is a wonderfully crafted piece of art.” Back In Black shows that the poster is wrong.

Favourite Song: Hells Bells.

Next Time: Massive Attack – Blue Lines.